Heron's Nest: Corbett on the Penn State issue

I was part of a group of newspaper editors invited to the Governor's Mansion Thursday to discuss his upcoming budget and looming pension crisis. You can find out how that went here.

But there was something else I was dying to ask him about. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what.

Unless you've been out of the country or under a rock, you know that the governor has decided to wade back into the Jerry Sansusky morass. And he's taking a ton of heat for his decision to file a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA for those hefty sanctions they slapped on Penn State in the wake of the Sandusky scandal.

One of the biggest bones of contention is the fact that when the sanctions were announced back in July, Corbett, who as governor is a member of the school's board of trustees, urged them to accept the penalty as a "corrective measure." Now, however, he's castigating the NCAA as not "playing by the rules," in particular their own rules and procedures, piling on Penn State, and using the Nittany Lions to prop up their own sagging reputation as the overseer of big-time college athletics.

So I asked him straight out what happened during those six months and when he first started to have a change of heart.

To his credit he never blinked an eye.

Corbett explained once again that when he made his statement in July that Penn State should accept the sanctions, that was based on the evidence he had at the time.

The governor is a former U.S. Attorney and state Attorney General. He still approaches his job like a prosecutor. He said that as he gathered more "facts," he started to realize that the NCAA didn't follow the rules. In fact they didn't follow their own procedures, according to the governor.

He realizes he faces an uphill fight in his war with the NCAA, and he is well aware of the beating he's taking in the media, this newspaper included, with the prominent exception of my columnist Gil Spencer, who is firmly in the governor's corner.

When I asked him if he was surprised at how strong the backlash has been, he quickly responded, "No."

He's also not buying those who make the argument that this only proves that nothing has been learned from the entire Penn State incident, that this is emblematic of the Penn State culture and the way big-time football is exalted in Happy Valley.

"You have to take the emotion out of it," Corbett said. "I looked at all the facts."

Today there is word that newly elected Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Kane is ready to make good on her campaign pledge to review Corbett's handling of the Sandusky case when he was sitting in that seat.

Aside from the timing of the lawsuit and his obvious flip-flop on the sanctions, there are still a lot of people out there who believe Corbett put the Sandusky matter on the back burner while he pushed ahead with the Bonusgate political corruption case. They believe that the Republican gubernatorial candidate was not exactly eager to take down Penn State and Joe Paterno. Now, they believe he's once again playing politics by seeking to prop up his flagging approval ratings by defending the honor of Penn State against the NCAA.

Corbett doesn't want to hear it.

"I didn't delay anything," Corbett said of the original investigation. "I'm a prosecutor, and I had to build the case," the governor said.

He really only asks one thing of his detractors. He wants them to read the 43-page complaint against the NCAA.

"It's pretty simple," he said. "They didn't have jurisdiction to do what they did."

So far polls show Pennsylvanians like the idea of the lawsuit against the NCAA. They're not quite as ready to do backflips over the job Corbett is doing as governor.

With Kane set to take office and weigh in on Corbett's handling of the affair, the Sandusky case isn't going away anytime soon.

Politically, Gov. Tom Corbett has decided to roll the dice with his lawsuit. If he wins, and the case goes to trial, it could bolster his hopes for a second term. If it gets tossed out, it's only going to make his political problems worse.

I get the feeling Corbett doesn't especially care about that. He doesn't think this is about politics. He thinks he's doing the right thing. He thinks the NCAA overstepped its bounds, didn't follow its own rules, and "piled on" Penn State.

And he doesn't care how it looks.

A visit to the Governor's Mansion & lowdown on Pa.'s pension crisis

I spent yesterday at the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg and I can bring back this report to the people of Delaware County.

As public housing goes, it's a pretty nice joint.

Those aren't my words. Those come from Gov. Corbett himself.

So much for the frivolity.

Now for some serious news. Brace yourself, folks. The governor is about to tackle the pension mess this state finds itself in. It's not going to be pretty. It likely means everyone is going to have to make sacrifices. And I mean everyone. Are you listening, teachers? The governor has heard your lament, that you have done everything you were supposed to do, you made all your contributions, while others let the pension funds slink into a sea of red ink.

Now you're going to ask us to share in the sacrifice to fix the problem? Yeah, pretty much.

The day started with Budget Secretary Charles Zogby (you might remember his as the former Education Secretary) offering a review of just how bad the pension situation is and how we got there.

The bottom line is it's real bad. Corbett likes to refer to it as the "tapeworm" in the budget process. The truth is the pension issues now threaten to eat up funds in the budget that could and should be allocated to other areas. With the governor's well-known aversity to hiking taxes, that does not leave a lot of wiggle room when it comes to righting the pension ship.

The state is looking at $41 billion in red ink tied to the two big public employee pension plans known as SERS and PSERS. The problems go back several administrations, at least back to 2001, when the multipliers were increased. Right after that the markets started to tank. In fact from 2002 to 2011 Corbett's figures show that investment earnings made up 71 percent of the funds. When the marketwent into a tailspin, and then over a cliff in 2008, funding for the pension plans began to lag. It's really never caught up.

I specifically asked the governor about that decision to increase the multipliers back in 2001, which many people believe was part of a lure to get the Legislature to back school choice legislation. The bills failed, but the multipliers went into effect, hiking pension funds for our elected representatives. Corbett didn't want any part of the school choice angle - aside from saying he continues to be for it - but did admit he wishes the multipliers had not been increased.

There also has been legislation over the years that capped employer contribution rates to provide some budget relief to the Commonwealth and local school districts.

Now the bill is due. And Corbett is no longer willing to "kick the can down the road," as we've been doing for years.

Almost everyone concedes that at a minimum the funds need to be converted from defined benefit to defined contribution funds. In other words, similar to the 401K plans the rest of us deal with every day. Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, has legislation that will do just that for future employees.

But that doesn't solve the problem of the $41 billion in unfunded liability in the two pension plans.

That's the dilemma the governor faces. And he's ready to have at it, saying that everything is "on the table," including:

o Looking at structural changes to the system (read that going from defined benefit to defined contribution.

o Looking at benefit changes to employees. One thing under consideration is taking overtime pay out of the funding equation.

o Looking at accrual, retirement age and other factors

o Looking at risk-sharing.

We'll hear some of the particulars on Feb. 5, when Corbett delivers his budget address.

Then he's going to have to sell his plan to both the Legislature, as well as school boards and the powerful teachers' unions.

This one ought to be a doozy.

Buckle your seatbelts, folks, it's likely going to be a rough ride.

Ack-a-me stores sold again

Know how you can tell a real Philadelphia native. Ask them to pronouce the name of your local supermarket.

Everybody from Philly knows Acme is a three-syllable word.

At least it was to my dad.

As in Ack-a-me.

Maybe not for much longer. The troubled local grocery icon has been sold again. This time its parent company, Supervalu Inc., is selling off Malvern-based Acme and four other grocery chains.

Acme, along with Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market stores are going to AB Acquisition LLC, an investor group. Yeah, it doesn't sound like it has much to do with groceries to me, either.

Acme operates 112 stores across the region, with 10,000 employees. Here in Delaware County, Acme has about a dozen stores.

The chain has been struggling for years amid increased competition, in particular from huge stors such as Walmart and Target, who have jumped into the grocery wars, as well as upscale oulets such as Wegmans.

No word yet on the fate of the stores as well as workers.

Let's hope Ac-a-me stays around forever. We already lost A&P. We don't need to drop another local icon.

Pileggi takes aim at Philadelphia Traffic Court

Everybody has a horror story to tell about Philadelphia Traffic Court.

Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, of Chester, apparently has heard enough.

The senator now has the troubled court in his crosshairs. Already the target of an FBI raid, as well as a blistering report that concluded that ticket-fixing is rampant in the court. the senator is ready to shut it down.

Pileggi said he will introduce a two-bill package this legislative session to shut Philadelphia Traffic Court down.

The report blasted Traffic Court as holding "two tracks of justice - one for the connected and another for the unwitting general public."

Pileggi wants to add a third track - that would take Philadelphia Traffic Court out of business.